I jumped out of bed to a blaring iPhone alarm at 3:30 AM.  By 4:00 AM, I was on the road heading to the Chino Airport located some 50 miles away.  Mike and I had paid a small fee so we could be on the flight line of the Chino Airshow at sunrise without the crowds who would show up at 8:00 AM.  The Chino Airshow is primarily focused on WW II aircraft.  It is the place to go if that is your interest.  It was an unusual opportunity to get some images in the "good light" and without lots of people in image.  From my flying days, I've always found that small airports at sunrise are kind of a spiritual place.  I know that sounds weird but there is just something different about a small airport when the sun rises.

This first image is of a Russian-made, Korean era,  Mig 15 . It is my attempt to capture the Sun's rays coming over the tail of the plane.  Can you count the number of red stars in the image?  Be careful, this is a trick question!

As evidenced by the ground fog in the previous shot, there was quite a bit of moisture in the air.  I  liked the effect of the pre-sunlight shining on the dew on the canopy of this British Sea Fury:

And continuing with the theme, I took this shot of the sun  peeking between two blades of another Sea Fury:  You can clearly see the ground fog sitting on the other side of the field:

 Later in the morning we spotted an amazing Beach 19, Twin-Prop, beautifully restored plane sitting alone in a hanger.  This is the kind of plane that Sky King used to fly around in the 1950's TV show.  It was so clean,  you could literally eat off of any part of it.  This is a shot of the propeller hub and a tiny bit of the engine nacelle. 

This is the bubble canopy of a P51 covered in dew.  I liked the shape!

This is a close-up of the engine cowling of the same plane named the diamond back.  I focused on the "permanent" coloration of the aluminum caused by the exhaust heat from the engine.  The exhausts, in this image, are covered up by a  metal plate which you can see under the two partial "diamonds." :

Most of the "Heavy Iron" that would fly during the show was parked in a row, wing-wing at an angle.  I liked the pattern the wheels and and props made from down on my knees.  Black and white shots seemed very appropriate to the subjects that day so I converted many of the images:

This is part of the ball turret of an Avenger.  The Avenger was a Navy plane used for torpedo attacks.  I believe it is the type airplane that President Bush (41) flew and was shot down in the Pacific.  I really liked the image in black and white .

This is the tail gun of a B25 twin-engine bomber.  The B25 was used in the Doolittle raid on Tokyo.  The planes in that raid were never intended to be flown from a carrier which is what they did on that  raid:

My favorite shot of the day is this shot of a Navy Corsair fighter ... this plane was used by the "Ba, ba black sheep" Marine squadron in the Pacific Theater.

By the time the flying began at Chino (around 11:30 AM), I was beat so headed home for a long, well deserved nap! 

Bye for now,

Permalink | Leave a comment  »